Medium of the year

The outdoor advertising company APG only likes them huge, Bern-Belp Airport has opted for medium, while the electronic advertising time marketer IP Multimedia, the cinema marketer Cinecom and the Swiss Post prefer small ones. We are talking about screens, which are also called "electronic posters" here and there. But the industry finds this rather disrespectful. Despite all the terminology, these flat screens are springing up like mushrooms and entire networks have sprung up within a very short space of time. The result of this boom: the industry is still chaotically organized, efficiency remains unclear for a while, the providers are numerous, the offers are anything but clear and the CPMs are still quite inconsistent. However, even this still young form of advertising will soon find structures and clear rates. Even in Germany, where this medium was introduced two years earlier, the market was shaken up more quickly than expected. And the Munich-based company UnitedScreens, for example, is in the process of turning down the volume on hundreds of screens in petrol station stores. The sound of the commercials was getting on the sales staff's nerves - the constant streaming was detrimental to efficiency. Therefore, the sound should now only be audible within a 45-degree angle in front of the screen. Switzerland has already gone further: most screens here are soundless. Instead, some are equipped with Internet terminals (see page 1). Away from the one-way medium and towards interactivity. This should also increase the advertising impact. (mk)